Safely Home and Pictures to Come!

I wanted to let you all know that my parents arrived home safely and are doing well. I thank the Lord for his protection over them during their 4 month stay in Zambia, and rejoice that they were healthy and strong enough to visit their beloved "home away from home". Although the parting was hard, the Lord answered our many prayers, and Mother didn't even shed tears upon leaving (although she did tell me that she shed a few the weeks prior to leaving!) However, she did shed some tears that morning, but not about leaving....As they were saying their good byes to a number of neighbors, a few dogs attacked their dog, Oliver, who Mother has grown to like very much. Unfortunately, it was a bad dog fight, and very hard for Mother to watch, and she wept bitterly as she stood there watching, in my Dad's arms, hoping that Oliver would be alright. As far as we know, he is fine, but she was pretty exhausted and slept the 4 hour drive to the airport.

Dad and Mother are slowly getting back to "normal America life". Their luggage did not arrive with them, but was delivered to their door 3 days after they got home. It gave Mother a few days of rest with nothing to do, while Dad began catching up in his office. Due to a bad storm while they were gone, their phone and computer were not working, so this past week has spent getting those necessities back and running. As of Thursday, Dad still was not able to connect to the internet.

We enjoyed an evening with my parents this week as we talked about life in Nahumba. What a joy to now share these stories with them, on the other side of our journey. We will help each other keep the memories alive. As we pray for our dear Zambian friends, we are reminded of the many lessons we learned from them. This past Tuesday I had the privilege of sharing some of those memories and lessons learned with the ladies in our church. Thanks, ladies, for your interest and your encouragement....you're the Best!

If you are interested in putting a face to some of the people I mentioned in the blog, or putting a picture to the places we saw, stay tuned to the blog for a bit longer! Next week, I will be spending a few days with Sarah, and beginning with the first story in mid June, we are going to put pictures with the stories, so that you can journey with me once again, not only "hearing" about life in Nahumba, but also "seeing" a bit of life in Nahumba..and Choma...and Macha....and Sikalonga....and Ndola...and Victoria Falls...and yes, even some great big animals in the beautiful land of Africa!

We'll try to have them posted by the end of the week...that is, unless little Baby Mellinger decides to make her appearance a few days early! She is due October 31, but Mommy is ready anytime...and Mimi is on call to watch her big brothers!

A Final Letter From Nahumba

While in Zambia, my Dad sent numerous letters out to friends and family. Recently, he sent this letter and many of you may have read it, but I know that most of my friends would not have gotten it, so I wanted to post it here. I loved reading it, because every story came alive for me, as I imagined exactly where my Dad was, who he was talking to or about, what the trees looked like, and so forth! Enjoy it....
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"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love, He will reign over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Dear Family and Friends - Greetings from Zambia!

Jacaranda trees are in full bloom with their beautiful violet-blue flowers and the Frangipane trees in our back yard are setting buds for their large white flowers, even though we've had no rain since April. We experienced a fast transition from cold to hot weather, and today it was 90 degrees in the shade.

This week I attended the village funeral for a brother of the farm manager.

Since we have the use of a van, we provided transport for our neighbors. The village was about 25 km from Choma and an estimated 300 attended the service and burial. We arrived around 9 AM for a short outdoor service and viewing (head only). At 10 AM we followed the casket being carried to the burial site under a group of trees - a six minute walk. After the casket was lowered and a few short speeches, a zinc roofing sheet was placed on top.

Several men began mixing cement with stones and sand which was then poured on top of the zinc sheet, and covered with ground. After family members, relatives and friends placed flowers on top of the mound, we walked back to the village.

Funerals are very commonplace and there are more than 800,000 AIDS orphans in Zambia. Most BIC churches and schools are assisting the extended families with the care of these children. Macha Hospital is playing an important role with administering anti retroviral (ARV) drugs, which helps prevent expectant mothers from transferring HIV to their baby.

This past weekend we went to Maamba, 120 km (75 miles) from Choma to visit long time friends, Jarious and Emma Siadibbi. They have nine children - seven are in school. Maamba is a coal mining town and nearly everyone works for the mines and live in small sub-standard houses built close to each other. Mr. Siadibbi works for the Public Water System, owned by Maamba Mines. The Siadibbi's have no electricity other than that supplied from a small solar panel, and they carry water from a source nearby. We attended the Maamba BIC Church and enjoyed an enthusiastic service with excellent music and morning message. Fifteen years ago I worked with this congregation on their church building projects.

During the BIC General Conference a former farm worker approached me with "a problem." He completed his first year living in a new village and received payment for 100 bags (50 kg) of maize. He received five million kwacha and asked me to keep this "bundle" during the conference. This is the total income for their family of seven during the next twelve months, which is equivalent to $1,250 ($104 per month), for clothing, food, transport, church, school fees, etc. When he travels to Choma, he leaves his village at 2 AM, walks one hour, then gets on a large open truck which arrives in town around 6 AM. On Sunday and Wednesday, he and his family walk two hours to attend church.

Several weeks ago we had considerable activity in front of our house. Twelve men, hired by our phone company, were digging a trench to place the phone lines underground. Each worker signed a contract to work six days a week for a total of 30 days, and were required to dig a trench one meter deep and six meters long each day. Their daily wage was K 8,000 ($2) and could only be collected at the end of their 30 days. The ground was hard and it was difficult work, but as one man expressed, "We're lucky to have a job."

Esther gave them cold lemonade and homemade cake.

We continue to see many western influences and changes in Zambia since our first arrival 17 years ago. During my 30 minute walk to town I counted ten satellite dishes on houses - a few were guest houses. However, women nursing babies in public has not changed to western practices. Banks charge 19% interest for loans and pay 3% to 5% interest on savings. Building is booming even though costs of materials have increased. As an example, a bag of cement cost K 35,000 two years ago - it is now K 70,000 ($17.50).

While walking from town, two fellows carrying axes and about 30 years of age, came from another connecting path. After a little conversation, I learned they were from the local prison. When I asked if they work at the prison, the one responded, "No, we are prisoners and don't even have 500 kwacha." My first thought was to give them a bit of money to befriend them, but I had just come from the bank and I didn't want to pull 3 million out of my pocket. I told them they must be very trusted prisoners because they didn't have a guard with them. They "tried" to assure me they were. However, I kept glancing at those axes. It was a relief when they turned onto a different path. I thanked my Heavenly Father for His protection. Whew!

We never stop learning - nachies (tangerines) have become a favorite fruit for us, but the only ones available for several weeks were very small or green ones, which are usually sour. I told the street boys we want big orange colored nachies. They rushed off and brought oranges and claimed that's what I said. After more conversation we finally agreed I wanted "yellow" ones. I felt relieved when they didn't bring lemons.

We enjoy being part of a Wednesday night Bible Study which is one of several groups for Nahumba Church. The venue, worship leader, and speaker rotates each week. We've had interesting discussions and an opportunity to learn to know our neighbors in different ways.

Our house has been very quiet the past two weeks since our daughter Beth, her husband and their son, left us. It was a special joy to have Beth and Matt with us since our arrival in June. They went home with many memories and new friendships.

We plan to arrive home on October 14th. Our good-byes will be difficult - perhaps we should say, "Till we meet again." We know we've learned more from the Nationals than they learned from us. And, they are very content with having so little.

We'll try to re-adjust our vocabulary a bit and say tangerine rather than nachie, gasoline vs petrol, wrench vs spanner, flashlight vs torch, faucet vs tap, stove vs cooker, drug store vs chemist, doctor's office vs surgery, jello vs jelly, hamburg vs mince, and reflect on Ecclesiastes 3:1, which reads, "There is an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything." We're looking forward to a time of re-connecting with many of you during the coming months.

Thanks for your letters, cards, prayers, and support.

Love and Blessings,

Dick and Esther (Ettie)